Biden the shotgun pitchman

2/20/13 9:54 AM EST

For the second time in a month, he espoused the virtues of double-barreled shotguns in an online chat Tuesday.

He advised a questioner in a Facebook Town Hall that 12-gauge shotguns -- like the one he owns -- are better for self-protection than assault weapons.

"As I told my wife -- we live in an area that’s wooded and somewhat secluded -- I said, 'Jill if there's ever a problem, just walk out on the balcony here or walk out, put that double barreled shotgun, and fire two blasts outside the house,'" Biden said. "I promise you who's ever coming in is not going -- you don’t need an AR-15, it's harder to aim, it's harder to use, and, in fact, you don’t need 30 rounds to protect yourself.

"Buy a shotgun. Buy a shotgun."

The vice president made a similar pitch during a Google+ Hangout in January, when he advised a questioner to use a shotgun to fend off looters in the wake of a natural disaster.

"A shotgun will keep you a lot safer -- a double-barreled shotgun -- than an assault weapon in somebody’s hands that doesn’t know how to use it, even one who does know how to use it," Biden said. "You know, it's harder to use an assault weapon to hit something than it is a shotgun, OK. So if you want to keep people away in an earthquake, buy some shotgun shells."

He has been traveling and doing outreach to build grassroots support for the administration's push to renew the assault-weapons ban and ban high-capacity magazines. But he may also be increasing shotgun sales.